1.
Hirokazu Kore-eda
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Hirokazu Koreeda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. He is best-known for works such as Nobody Knows and Still Walking, Koreeda worked as an assistant director on documentaries for TV Man Union. He directed his first television documentary, Lessons from a Calf and his 2013 film Like Father, Like Son was nominated for the Palme dOr at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Jury Prize and won a commendation from the Ecumenical Jury, in October 2013 it won the Rogers People’s Choice Award at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival. His 2015 film Our Little Sister was selected to compete for the Palme dOr at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and his 2016 film After the Storm debuted to critical acclaim at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category. According to the Harvard Film Archive, Koreedas works reflect the style and pacing of such luminaries as Hou Hsiao-Hsien. In a 2009 interview, Koreeda stated that Still Walking was based on his own family and this is your life, Tony Rayns interviews After Lifes director Koreeda Hirokazu Sight & Sound, March 1999. Official website Hirokazu Koreeda at the Internet Movie Database Hirokazu Koreeda at the Japanese Movie Database

2.
United Red Army (film)
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United Red Army is a 2007 film written, directed and produced by Kōji Wakamatsu. It stars Akie Namiki as Hiroko Nagata and Go Jibiki as Tsuneo Mori, the leaders of Japans leftist paramilitary group, Akie Namiki was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress at the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The film is told in three acts, beginning with a background of Japans student movement of the 1960s and early 1970s, mostly using archive footage. The second act follows the formation of the group to their training camps in the southern Japanese Alps. It emphasizes the dogmatic bullying of the group by Mori and Nagata, the third act shows the splitting up of the group after two members run off. It follows one group of five members to Karuizawa and a hostage-taking, in order to make the film, Wakamatsu mortgaged his home and distributed it himself. The actors were not allowed to wear make-up, had to arrive on set already in costume, the musical score is by the American composer and musician Jim ORourke. Soft-Core Auteur Turns Attention to Radicals, United Red Army at the Internet Movie Database United Red Army at Rotten Tomatoes United Red Army Official Movie Site

3.
Tatsuya Fujiwara
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Tatsuya Fujiwara is a Japanese actor. In 2014, he portrayed the villain Shishio Makoto in the live action Rurouni Kenshin films, born in Saitama, Fujiwara has had an interest in acting from a young age. Since 2013, he is married with his girlfriend and since summer 2016. The name and sex of the child is unknown and he is famous for acting the part of Shuya Nanahara in Kinji Fukasakus controversial 2000 film Battle Royale. He continues the character as a leader of the Wild Seven in the sequel, Battle Royale II and he stars as Light Yagami, the leading role in Death Note and Death Note, The Last Name, films based on the manga of the same name. He also has an appearance in L, Change the World. Fujiwara portrayed Death Notes main protagonist Light Yagami in the live-action movie, Fujiwara stated during filming that it was difficult to portray a character with such restrained emotions. During the filming of Death Note, The Last Name, Tatsuya became close friends with Kenichi Matsuyama, in theatrical works, he is known for collaborating with Yukio Ninagawa, one of the most influential directors in Japan. He started his career in theatre, before screen debut, with the role of Shintoku-maru. He has also acted in Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet and Romeo, Fujiwara played one of the lead roles in Hideo Nakatas psychological thriller film The Incite Mill. From January to February 2015, he will appear in Hamlet directed by Yukio Ninagawa at Sai-no-Kuni Saitama Arts Theater in Saitama, after that, he is schduled to play the role in Taiwan in March and at Barbican Theatre in May 2015

4.
Takeo Kimura
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Takeo Kimura was a Japanese art director, writer and film director. Beginning his career in 1945 he art-directed well over 200 films and he was one of Japans best known art directors, most famously for his collaborations with cult director Seijun Suzuki through the 1960s at the Nikkatsu Company, exemplified by Tokyo Drifter. Other directors with whom he worked include Toshio Masuda, Kazuo Kuroki, Kei Kumai. At age 90 he made his film directorial debut with Dreaming Awake. He had also worked as a critic, writer, painter, photographer and teacher, Kimura was born in Tokyo on April 1,1918. A graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University with a background in theatre, the same year, the government ordered the ten major movie studios to consolidate into two. A counteroffer of three was accepted and Nikkatsu merged with Daito and Shinko, the first shutting down their production unit. Kimura continued as an assistant with Daiei after World War II and was promoted to art director in 1945 and his debut film was Masanori Igayamas Umi no yobu koe. When Nikkatsu opened a new studio and resumed production in 1954. At Nikkatsu he worked many of the studios directors, including top action director Toshio Masuda. However, Kimura became frustrated in doing the same types of films repeatedly and had ambitions to work on films where the art direction was a focal point. He found a collaborator in the like-minded Seijun Suzuki, a director of primarily B action movies. They first collaborated on The Bastard which Suzuki considered a point in his career. The two became friends and Kimura became his permanent art director. They worked to refine their style which consisted of more artistry and they would add characters and scenes or expand simple lines into elaborate shots. For his contributions to The Flower and the Angry Waves Kimura received his first screenwriting credit, Kimura left Nikkatsu a couple years later in 1973 to work freelance. Stylistically, he continues to vary between the surrealistic, as in his subsequent collaborations with Suzuki, and the realistic, including his films with Kei Kumai. Kimura directed two films in 2004, and the release of Mugen Sasurai afforded him the oldest directorial debut at age 86

5.
Kenichi Matsuyama
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Kenichi Matsuyama, real name Kenichi Matsuyama, is a Japanese actor. He was cast to lead character Toru Watanabe in the film adaptation of Haruki Murakamis novel Norwegian Wood. On April 1,2011, he married Koyuki Katō, who co-starred with him in Kamui Gaiden, the couples first child was born in January 2012, and their second child was born in January 2013 in South Korea. In July 2015, the couple had their third child, horipro agency profile Kenichi Matsuyama at the Internet Movie Database

6.
Detroit Metal City
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Detroit Metal City is a vulgar comedy manga series by Kiminori Wakasugi, serialized in Young Animal from 2005 to 2010. An anime OVA series, twelve episodes of approximately 13 minutes each, was released starting on August 8,2008, a live film adaptation directed by Toshio Lee appeared in Japanese theaters on August 23,2008. The series takes its name from the KISS single Detroit Rock City, Soichi Negishi is a shy young musician who dreams of a career in pop. Dreams dont pay the bills, so hes ended up as the singer and guitarist of a blackened death metal band. The songs of DMC often encourage the audience to engage in immoral and illegal behavior, such as rape or murder, or tell of Krausers exploits with similar actions, in a parody of the genre. Negishi despises DMC and all that it stands for, but he cant walk away as he has a talent to play the psychotic frontman of the band, Negishi is under his meager exterior a rageaholic and also is very skilled in his guitar play. Further, he feels obligation to the rest of the band and his label and even if he manages to escape, the Krauser persona also functions as an outlet to vent his frustration over his failing personal career, which has not advanced beyond him being a street musician. Playing his music in the street earns him nothing but the disapproval of bystanders over his cheesy pop songs, the series explores the futile attempts of Negishi to break this vicious circle, escape his DMC persona and become a successful pop musician. A calm and peaceful musician from Inukai, Ōita, he is a fan of Swedish pop and Shibuya-kei who is the exact opposite of his alter-ego Johannes Krauser II, leader of the Visual death metal band DMC. Ashamed of his job, Negishi must cope with DMCs rising fame while keeping it a secret from friends. Even though Negishi despises Krauser so much, he can never resist the temptation of invoking his demonic ego every time he feels irritated or in trouble, while performing as Krauser, Negishi proves to be a skilled guitarist, able to play just with his teeth. In the OVA, Daisuke Kishio voices Negishi, while Yuji Ueda voices Krauser, in the film, Kenichi Matsuyama portrays both roles. Yuri Aikawa, Negishis friend from his times and his main love interest. She loves Negishis calm nature and songs, but dislikes DMCs music and its vocalist Krauser, voiced by Masami Nagasawa in the OVA, and portrayed by Rosa Kato in the live-action movie. Terumichi Nishida, Curry-loving, overweight, and taciturn, an otaku, he is a fan of ecchi anime. Perhaps the most dedicated in the group, not even fire or snakes will stop his drumming, voiced by Makoto Yasumura in the OVA, and portrayed by Ryuji Akiyama in the live-action movie. Masayuki Wada, Plays the part of Alexander Jagi, DMCs bassist and he would like to leave DMC to perform in a visual kei band, but like the rest of the band, he is reluctant to go on his own path, mostly in fear of their manager. Voiced by Yuto Nakano in the OVA, and portrayed by Yoshihiko Hosoda in the live-action movie, death Records President, A foul-mouthed, sex-crazy blonde woman who creates odd schemes to promote the band, most of them to Negishis despair

7.
Tokyo Sonata
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Tokyo Sonata is a 2008 film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. It won the award for Best Film at the 3rd Asian Film Awards and received 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards nominations for Achievement in Directing, at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival it won the Jury Prize of the Un Certain Regard section. Tokyo Sonata is about a family in Tokyo, the Sasakis, which consists of Ryūhei Sasaki, his wife Megumi. Ryūhei has an office job, but is suddenly fired because Chinese workers are cheaper. While attempting to find a new job, Ryūhei encounters an old classmate on the street, Kurosu, Kurosu uses a feature on his mobile phone that plays the ring tone periodically, so that it may fool others into believing he is still employed. This intrigues Ryūhei, who decides to hide the fact that he has fired from his family. While the two men try to find new work, Kurosus wife slowly begins to suspect her husbands unemployment. Kurosu is later found dead together with his wife from gas poisoning in a double suicide, Takashi, the oldest son, joins the US military and is deployed to war in the Middle East. Kenji, the son, wishes to learn to play the piano. Kenji takes lessons secretly, and pays for them using his lunch money, gradually, Kenji develops a strong relationship with his piano teacher, Miss Kaneko, who urges him to pursue his musical ambitions. One day, Megumi, while alone at home, is taken hostage by a man who broke in looking for money. The robber forces Megumi to drive a car he has stolen previously, after a long drive, he allows her leave the car to use the restroom where she has the opportunity to escape. However, she encounters her husband at the working in his secret job as a janitor. That night, Megumi, Ryūhei, and Kenji all have experiences away from home in which they confront the full extent of their existential disquiet, Kenji attempts to help a friend run away from home, but the latter is caught by his father. Kenji tries to leave town by sneaking onto a bus, unwilling to answer the questions of the police, Kenji is charged as an adult and kept in a group cell overnight. He is released the day when the charges are dismissed. Megumi and the drive to the beach together, where they spend the night in a wood shed. Megumi resigns to the sexual advances, but he ultimately is unable to go through with the act itself

8.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
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Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic and a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. He is best known for his contributions to the Japanese horror genre. Born in Kobe on July 19,1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to director Akira Kurosawa. In the early 1990s, Kurosawa won a scholarship to the Sundance Institute and was able to study filmmaking in the United States, Kurosawa first achieved international acclaim with his 1997 crime thriller film Cure. Also that year, he experimented by filming two thrillers back-to-back, Serpents Path and Eyes of the Spider, both of which shared the same premise and lead actor but spun entirely different stories. Kurosawa followed up Cure with a semi-sequel in 1999 with Charisma, in 2000, Seance, Kurosawas adaptation of the novel Seance on a Wet Afternoon by Mark McShane, premiered on Kansai TV. It also starred Yakusho, as well as Jun Fubuki, in 2001, he directed the horror film Pulse. Kurosawa released Bright Future, starring Tadanobu Asano, Joe Odagiri and Tatsuya Fuji and he followed this with another digital feature, Doppelganger, later the same year. In 2005, Kurosawa returned with Loft, his first love story since Seance, another horror film, Retribution, followed in the next year. With his 2008 film, Tokyo Sonata, Kurosawa was considered to step out of his usual horror genre and he has written a novelization of his own film Pulse, as well as a history of horror cinema with Makoto Shinozaki. In September 2012, it was announced that he will direct 1905, in February 2013, it was announced that production of the film had been cancelled before filming could start. Kurosawa directed a 2012 five-part television drama Penance, Beautiful 2013, an anthology film featuring Kurosawas Beautiful New Bay Area Project, screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2013. Kurosawas next feature film Real, which stars Takeru Sato and Haruka Ayase, was released in 2013 and he won the Best Director award at the 8th Rome Film Festival for Seventh Code later that year. His 2015 film Journey to the Shore was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where he won the prize for Best Director, in 2016, his thriller Creepy premiered at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. The film marked Kurosawas first cinematic return to the genre since 2006. Kurosawas directing style has been compared to that of Stanley Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovsky and he also expressed admiration for American film directors such as Don Siegel, Sam Peckinpah, Robert Aldrich, Richard Fleischer, and Tobe Hooper. In a 2009 interview with IFC, Kurosawa talked about the reason why he has cast the actor Koji Yakusho in many of his films, that’s a big reason why I enjoy working with him on the set. According to Tim Palmer, Kurosawas films occupy a position between the materials of mass genre, on the one hand, and esoteric or intellectual abstraction, on the other

9.
Still Walking (film)
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Still Walking is a 2008 Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. The film is a portrait of a family over roughly 24 hours as they commemorate the death of the eldest son, the film was widely praised by critics and won the Golden Astor for Best Film at the 2008 Mar del Plata International Film Festival. The Yokoyama family come together every year to commemorate the death of the eldest son, Junpei, the family experience nostalgia, humour, sadness and tension as memories are shared and ceremonies performed. In a Chicago Sun-Times review, Roger Ebert gave the work a full four stars, trevor Johnston of Sight & Sound wrote that however one positions Still Walking in the firmament of Japans cinematic achievements, one thing is sure, it belongs up there with the masters. The film won the Asian Film Award for Best Director, and was nominated for the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics